Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to designing and testing new instrument flight procedure criteria.
Background Art
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) develops and publishes criteria for Terminal Instrument Procedures (TERPS). These criteria provide guidance for instrument procedure design, setting requirements for parameters such as minimum leg length, required turn radius, and allowable leg combinations. Criteria also include high precision methods for evaluating obstacle clearances in regions surrounding the flight path. These rules ensure that new flight procedures are safe, flyable, and efficient.
Modern aircraft are now capable of high precision navigation. These improved capabilities have motivated the design of new and more comprehensive criteria. Criteria prototyping provides a valuable means of testing and evaluating the impact of new criteria changes, before they are published. Additionally, it ensures the criteria developed can be implemented in automated design software without altering its original intent. This improves the quality of new criteria and reduces costly future redesign. Accordingly, there is a need for a method, system, and computer program product that facilitates criteria development while reducing the complexity of the FAA's workload and allowing for a rapid and more intuitive design phase.